The Political Economy of Land Reform in Post-War Taiwan: Japanese Colonial Occupation and the Transformation of Taiwanese Landlord Class

When Taiwan was under Japanese colonial occupation, security measures were implemented and enhanced and local sovereignty was taken away from local landlords, i.e. magnates. At the same time, changes were made in the agricultural industry. Rice became a commercial crop, and as agricultural warehouses were further developed in the 1930s and industrial associations started to engage in rice milling and provide financing with low interest rates and landlords who used to control rice distribution processes started to lose their economic foundation. The post-war land reform was achieved relatively smoothly, without any strong resistance from the landlords, because the landlords themselves were facing significant changes. This phenomenon can be summed up as the transformation of pre-modern magnates to modern landlords, promoted by the Japanese occupation of Taiwan. This occupation also had a significant impact on the industrialization of Taiwan. This industrialization stemmed from Japan's strategic consideration to use Taiwan as its forward base to move southward. Japanese owned newly emerged corporations in Taiwan. However, these corporations were condemned by the Taiwanese government after the war and became state-owned corporations, and thereafter contributed to the economic development of Taiwan. Similarly, although industrialization under the colonial occupation was promoted under the control of Governor General's Office, these industrialization policies were handed over to Taiwan after the war as state-led economic management policies.

並列關鍵字

colony ； monocultural production structure ； commercial agriculture ； land reform ； industrialization

國際替代計量

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